Saturday, October 29, 2016

Keen photographers have the ability to elevate the ordinary into stunning imagery and photographer Loes Heerink has done just that with her series about the street vendors of Hanoi. Waking up at 4 am, the vendors—often female migrant workers—pack their bicycles to the brim with fresh flowers and fruit, walking miles throughout the course of the day to peddle their wares. Heerink lived in Vietnam for many years and became fascinated with these street vendors, so much so that she sought to capture their beauty in a unique way.

Stationing herself on different bridges around Hanoi, Heerink patiently waited for vendors to pass, capturing these colorfully symmetrical photographs as they unknowingly moved below the bridge. The work takes patience. "I once spent five hours in a location with no shots," Heerink explains on her new Kickstarter campaign. "This project started my fascination for the women carrying their goods. They have no clue how beautiful their bicycles are, no idea they create little pieces of art every day."

Heerink's dream is to expand the project to 100 images and publish a book to celebrate the beauty of these hardworking street vendors. Through Kickstarter, Heerink hopes to raise funds for a return trip to Vietnam, where she will interview workers and finish shooting the images necessary to then complete the publication. Heerink isn't aiming to make money from the project, but to simply publish the series in order to fulfill a dream and spread the beauty that these vendors unknowingly embody.